Crunch Rout Pens 7-0, Clinch Berth Into Calder Cup Finals

The Syracuse Crunch head coach, his team leading 5-0 through the first 40 minutes, still kept his team focused on finishing the series off the right way.

Syracuse's Philippe Paradis added a pair of third period goals to finish off a hat trick, as the Crunch routed the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins 7-0 to win the Eastern Conference Finals series 4-1 at the Onondaga County War Memorial Saturday.

"It felt good to be able to relax back there for a change," Zettler said.

The Crunch, in the Calder Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history, host the winner of Grand Rapids and Oklahoma City next weekend. That series is tied 2-2.

"I don't think we were expecting a 7-0 finish," said Syracuse defenseman Mark Barberio. "We just wanted to stick to our game plan. It's been successful all season and we were opportunistic with our chances."

Eleven Syracuse players showed up on the scoresheet, with Paradis recording his first three playoff goals and the second postseason hat trick in Crunch franchise history.

"I was just playing a simple game…when I had a chance I tried to put it on net," Paradis said.

"I just thought he and Cedric Paquette were really playing well," Zettler said of Paradis. "They were hitting everything, they were in their face, and he got rewarded by scoring some goals."